Solich v. Pelini

[AFhusker]

Actually the only reason we made a bowl in 2002 was because of an opening game win (48-10) over Arizona St in the Eddie Robinson classic i believe. THAT was the extra game. Not McNeese St.

That was also when the NCAA first started to allow wins vs Div-1AA teams to count towards bowl eligibility. This was mainly due to having way too many bowls and a lot of teams needed those wins to count vs 1AA opponents to become bowl eligible.

 

[San Diego Husker]

Some uncanny similarities between these two:

• Both were picked by Osborne
  
• Both were fired by different ADs than the one that hired them
  
• Both fired despite going 9-3 in their final season
  
• There was much criticism about how the ADs handled both firings
  
• There was a split of opinion in the fan base about both firings

Given the high similarity about the circumstances surrounding both firings, it stands to reason that both coaches would have similar feelings about the respective ADs that fired them. Thus the question: How did the way Solich handled his firing compare with how Bo handled his?

(BTW, this is a genuine question, not a rhetorical one, as was not a Nebraska fan until the summer before Callahan's first season. (Long story.))

Lets just hope we don't have a lot of Bill Callahan/Mike Riley similarities in a few years... lol

 

[San Diego Husker]

Here's an anecdote that I think is extremely telling.

After the 300th sellout. They allowed some ex-players, ex-coaches to come on and say thanks fans, and congratulations. To everyone's surprise, Frank was one of those that came on. He was wearing his Ohio gear in his Ohio coaching office.

I think a lot of us have always had a tremendous amount of respect for Frank. I can say as a supporter of both Bo and Frank during their coaching tenures, I was upset they fired Frank. I was already on the fence with Bo before. And believe me when I say, I wasn't a Bo hater.

Plus, Frank had these games that he won. The Oklahoma game in 2001 was most impressive and solidified Eric Crouch as a Heisman candidate.

1998

#9 Washington, we were #2 (gameday was here I believe)

#19 Missouri, we were #7

1999

#21 A&M

#5 Kansas St (destroyed them), we were #7

#12 Texas for the Big 12 Championship, avenged our only loss of the season.

#6 Tenn in Fiesta Bowl

Finished the season ranked #2

2000

#23 Notre Dame, this game was big regardless of ranking.

Lost to Oklahoma, who eventually won the National Championship

Destroyed #18 Northwestern in the Alamo Dome. Many may argue that we should have played in a BCS bowl. Stupid Rules...

2001

#17 Notre Dame. Beat them pretty easily.

#2 Oklahoma. You want to talk about big games? It rarely gets bigger than #2 vs #3. OK vs NU? And this was against the reigning National Champions, and Bob Stoops. I love watching Black 41 Flash Reverse often... Never gets old, I wish I could have seen it in person.

2002

OK, not so good in 2002. The jerseys were terrible, and well, the team was terrible by our standards. Growing year, just lost Heisman winner and replaced him with Jammal Lord.

2003

We beat Penn State.

The losses were admittedly lopsided.

2 disappointing years after very good and great seasons where we were regularly in the top 10 and some years never jumped outside the top 5.

Just a point of comparison, looking back to those 2003 bad loses that year, it is easy to see Bo's influence. even Bo running across the field to get into the K States head coaches face about running up the score on NU. Don't think Bill Snyder intentionally ran up the score that day.. Just a sign of Bo's temper and his defenses that struggled against good teams.

 

[Count 'Bility]

Oh. Snyder ran it up. He had his ones in agains our seniotmr walkons with minutes left. They were still runnin the whole offense for a score to make it 38 with only a minute and half to go. Not that i have a problem with it, its our job to stop it, but katate was taking out decades of frustration out on us. So dont say they werent trying to run it up. Cuz they were. It was blatsntly obvious. But it happens.

 

[nemajordude]

Frank would not have been here another year if he had went 12-0 and a top recruiting class. Some know the real story on this, and I have too much respect for the man to repeat it. Humans make errors, Frank made a big one. The University loved Frank and did everything to protect him from being torn apart by the media. Let sleeping dogs lie.

Good man, good coach, great players, heart of Lion. One of my favorite all time Huskers.

I've heard this before but no one ever elaborates. PM me and elaborate, please.

I'll have what Elf's having, please.

Me too if possible.

 

[jjamuss]

no more attorneys in the AD office or any position of power at DONU. Attorneys are the scum of all scum... not one has done a thing to better anything for the masses, all they are good for is greed at the expense of someone else. A dead attorney, is a great one!

 

[beanman]

no more attorneys in the AD office or any position of power at DONU. Attorneys are the scum of all scum... not one has done a thing to better anything for the masses, all they are good for is greed at the expense of someone else. A dead attorney, is a great one!

 

[Branno]

I liked Bo and would never compare him to Solich. Sure they both got fired for off the field behavior, but Frankie got us our last conference championship and by the strangest of circumstances played for a MNC.

There is no comparison.

 

[AFhusker]

Here's an anecdote that I think is extremely telling.

After the 300th sellout. They allowed some ex-players, ex-coaches to come on and say thanks fans, and congratulations. To everyone's surprise, Frank was one of those that came on. He was wearing his Ohio gear in his Ohio coaching office.

I think a lot of us have always had a tremendous amount of respect for Frank. I can say as a supporter of both Bo and Frank during their coaching tenures, I was upset they fired Frank. I was already on the fence with Bo before. And believe me when I say, I wasn't a Bo hater.

Plus, Frank had these games that he won. The Oklahoma game in 2001 was most impressive and solidified Eric Crouch as a Heisman candidate.

1998

#9 Washington, we were #2 (gameday was here I believe)

#19 Missouri, we were #7

1999

#21 A&M

#5 Kansas St (destroyed them), we were #7

#12 Texas for the Big 12 Championship, avenged our only loss of the season.

#6 Tenn in Fiesta Bowl

Finished the season ranked #2

2000

#23 Notre Dame, this game was big regardless of ranking.

Lost to Oklahoma, who eventually won the National Championship

Destroyed #18 Northwestern in the Alamo Dome. Many may argue that we should have played in a BCS bowl. Stupid Rules...

2001

#17 Notre Dame. Beat them pretty easily.

#2 Oklahoma. You want to talk about big games? It rarely gets bigger than #2 vs #3. OK vs NU? And this was against the reigning National Champions, and Bob Stoops. I love watching Black 41 Flash Reverse often... Never gets old, I wish I could have seen it in person.

2002

OK, not so good in 2002. The jerseys were terrible, and well, the team was terrible by our standards. Growing year, just lost Heisman winner and replaced him with Jammal Lord.

2003

We beat Penn State.

The losses were admittedly lopsided.

2 disappointing years after very good and great seasons where we were regularly in the top 10 and some years never jumped outside the top 5.

You don't think being handed MNC talent by Tom had anything to do with Frank's first four years? The two years after that exposed how bad of a recruiter he was and how far he had let the program slip under his watch. Frank isn't good enough to coach at the major college level. He is a MAC level HC due to his poor recruiting and terrible play calling. Which isn't anything to be ashamed of, but his hire and failure as NU's HC, just like Bo's failure here are Tom's fault,which is why I am glad he had nothing to do with MR's hire.